Opening round scrapped at Genesis Open

LOS ANGELES (AP) - One of the wildest pars Phil Mickelson ever made didn't even count. Neither did one of the worst lies Jordan Spieth ever had.

Fifty minutes into the start of the Genesis Open, with only 30 players having teed off, the opening round was scrapped because of increasing rain that soaked Riviera and poor visibility that made it unusually tough on the earliest of starters.

Everyone started over after what amounted to a seven-hour delay, and Spieth made the most of his second chance.

He chipped in twice for birdie, made birdie on all three par 5s and was at 5-under par through 12 holes. He was tied for the lead with Sung Kang, who was through 14 holes.

Tiger Woods never made it to the course. He was to play in the afternoon and faces a long day of as many holes as he can get in Friday in what now becomes a long, disjointed week trying to catch up.

"Certainly got some good breaks," Spieth said.

None was bigger than the decision to restart the round. Spieth hit his tee shot on the short par-4 10th to the left, normally a good place to be except that his ball hit the cart path, hit it again, bounded across the forward tee at No. 11 and disappeared into shin-high grass so deep he could barely see his ball.

If he could have played from there, par would have been a challenge. And then the horn blew to suspend play because of wet conditions, and a few hours later, the PGA Tour thought it was best to scrap the round.

It was the first time in more than five years on the PGA Tour that a round started over.

The was great news to Spieth, who hit his tee shot left of the green near a tree, pitched to 15 feet and walked away with par.

"Given I went cart path to cart path to junk on the first start today ... went from kind of being unfortunate to just fortunate," he said.

He was playing alongside Mickelson, who hit his first tee shot on No. 10 into a bunker, a bad spot in any weather. Mickelson apparently could see just fine, so while Spieth and Xander Schauffele marked their balls, Mickelson chose to finish the hole.

PRO BASKETBALL

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Anthony Davis grimaced and didn't move his left arm as he walked off the court at halftime.

Whether those were Davis' final moments in a Pelicans uniform - or whether he even plays in this weekend's All-Star Game - remains to be seen.

Julius Randle capped a 33-point, 11-rebound performance with three clutch baskets in the final three minutes, Jrue Holiday scored 32 points and effectively defended Paul George, and New Orleans beat Oklahoma City 131-122 despite losing Davis to a shoulder injury.

Davis, who has asked to be traded, left the Smoothie King Center with his agent, Rich Paul, during the second half to get an MRI exam, the results of which were expected by Friday.

ATLANTA (AP) - Knicks coach David Fizdale gives his team credit for not giving up during a losing streak that lasted nearly six weeks.

Dennis Smith Jr. scored 19 points and New York snapped a franchise-worst, 18-game losing streak with a 106-91 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.

The Knicks ended their longest skid within a single season with their first victory since Jan. 4 at the Los Angeles Lakers. New York, with the Eastern Conference's worst record and second-worst overall, had dropped 26 of 27.

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